Lopez tries to knock off soaring PSJA Memorial

ALAMO – PSJA Memorial coach Gus Cavazos doesn’t believe his team was out to prove anything during last week’s eye-opening victory over McAllen High. If his players think otherwise, their 36-22 win against the Bulldogs was more than enough to defy their coach.

But despite all that, the Wolverines did prove one thing. Memorial showed it could win without starting running back Jonathan Gonzalez, who was lost for the season a week before the opener after suffering an ACL injury. The Wolverines will look to hang on to the early season momentum when they host Brownsville Lopez on Friday night at PSJA Stadium. 

“It was just the first game of the season and you always want to look good,” Cavazos said of last week’s win. “…We were impressed with some of the things we saw as coaches, but on the other hand we made a lot of mistakes that could cost us in the future.”

Those mistakes could hardly be blamed on Memorial’s ground game, which played like it hardly missed a step after netting 253 yards. More than half of those yards came from Mike Fonseca and Fernando Garza, who rushed for a combined 168 yards and two touchdowns.

Fonseca filled in for Gonzalez during the latter portion of the season last year, when Gonzalez was sidelined with his first season-ending injury. Garza was making his first varsity start.

Cavazos says he wasn’t surprised to see the quick rise of his new backfield, which perhaps felt the most pressure to perform and had the most to prove.

“We have a lot of confidence in those two boys,” Cavazos said. “When a kid gets hurt, especially a senior, it breaks your heart but at the same time we got kids that could step in and fill his shoes.”

Lopez, meanwhile, hopes it can prove last week’s 47-7 drubbing by Harlingen High was merely a season-opening hiccup. The Lobos, who were playing with third-string sophomore quarterback Gilbert Vasquez, turned the ball over on their first three possessions of the game that led to 19 quick Harlingen points.

The Cardinals added three more touchdowns in the second quarter before the Lopez defense held its own in the second half, allowing only one score on a punt return in the fourth quarter. Lobos coach Valentin Montemayor was glad to survive the Valley’s No. 1 team in the second half last week and hopes that effort can swing into Friday’s game.

“We have to rally behind our team,” he said. “We have just to pull together and regroup. It’s really brought us closer together as a unit. We see than in the effort being put by the kids and the attitude in them.”

Ramiro Paez covers high school sports for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4470 or via e-mail at rpaez@themonitor.com.